Description of Judaism

Jewish movements. Christian -
Jewish relations. Jewish websites.

There are five main forms of Judaism in the world today. However, the most
conservative traditions do not necessarily recognize the most liberal as being
part of Judaism. This is a common problem among many of the world's great
religions.

In alphabetic order, the main traditions active in North America are:

Conservative* Judaism: This began in the mid-nineteenth century as a
reaction against the Reform movement. It is a main-line movement midway between Reform and
Orthodox.
In the U.S., the number of families served by Conservative synagogues has dropped by 14% between 2001 and 2010; in the Northeast region, it has shrunk 30%. 1

Humanistic Judaism: This is a very small group, mainly composed of
atheists and agnostics, who regard mankind as the measure of all things.

Orthodox* Judaism: This the oldest, most conservative, and most diverse
form of Judaism. Modern Orthodox, Chasidim and Ultra Orthodox share a basic belief in the
derivation of Jewish law, even as they hold very different outlooks on life. They attempt
to follow the original form of Judaism as they view it to be. They look upon every word in
their sacred texts as being divinely inspired.

Reconstructionist Judaism: This is a new, small, liberal movement
started by Mordecai Kaplan as an attempt to unify and revitalize the religion. They reject
the concept that Jews are a uniquely favored and chosen people. They have no connection at
all with Christian Reconstructionism, which is an
ultra-conservative form of Christianity.

Reform* Judaism: They are a liberal group, followed by many North
American Jews. The movement started in the 1790's in Germany. They follow the ethical laws
of Judaism, but leave up to the individual the decision whether to follow or ignore the
dietary and other traditional laws. They use modern forms of worship. There
are many female rabbis in reform congregations.

* These are the largest forms of Judaism.

A survey conducted in 2001 for the 2002 edition of the American Jewish
Year Book indicated that fewer that 10% of American Jews are estimated to be
Orthodox. However, Orthodox synagogues represent 40% of all U.S. synagogues.
Reform Judaism has 26 percent of all synagogues; Conservatives have 23 percent.
"Every other denomination or group representing synagogues -
Reconstructionist, Sephardi, Traditional, Humanistic, Gay/Lesbian - accounts
for 3 percent or less of synagogue affiliations..." 2 The
total number of U.S. synagogues has increased from 2,851 in 1936 to 3,727 in
2001.

Estimates of the Jewish population in the U.S. are:

5.5 million adults and children who identify as Jewish by religion.

1 million adults and children who identify themselves as Jewish by other criteria.

The rate of increase of the Jewish population is similar to the increase in the total U.S. population. 3

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Jewish-Christian Relations:

The faith of Israel, as described in the Hebrew Scriptures, had divided into a number
of Jewish Sects (the Basusim, Pharisees, Essenes, Saducees, Zealots and others) by the
early first century CE. Subsequently, a number of events of momentous importance occurred:

30 CE: Some Jews, following the teachings of Jeshua of
Nazareth (known by
Christians as Jesus Christ), formed a Jewish Christian reform movement within Judaism.
It was led by James, an apostle of Jeshua of Nazareth who is referred to in the
Bible as the brother of Jesus. Christian denominations are divided on whether he
is a true brother, or just a cousin, or a step-brother, or simply a friend of Jesus.

circa 55 CE: Paul, a Jewish persecutor of Christians,
created an alternative religion involving the teachings and person of
Yeshua. He started to organize Pauline Christian churches throughout much of the
Roman empire in conflict with the Jewish Christians.

70 CE: The Roman army destroyed the Temple and the rest of Jerusalem.
The Jewish Christian movement was scattered and went into gradual decline.

132 CE: Many Jews accepted Bar Kochba as the Messiah.
This led to a hopeless three-year revolt against the Roman Empire. About a
half-million Jews were killed; thousands were sold into slavery or taken
into captivity. The rest were exiled from Palestine and scattered
throughout the known world."

Out of these events came two major world religions:

Judaism in its Rabbinical form, centered in local synagogues, scattered throughout the
known world, and

Christianity, the spiritual successor of Pauline Christianity which
incorporated fragments of Gnostic Christianity and Jewish Christianity. In
1054 CE, this religion split to become Roman Catholicism
and Eastern Orthodoxy. In the early 16th century, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation. Christianity has since
fragmented into thousands of faith groups.

Relations between Judaism and Christianity became strained. The Christian Scriptures include
many examples of anti-Judaism. One of the gospels, written during the last third of the 1st
century CE, included the accusation that all Jews, (past, present, and future), are responsible for deicide: the killing of G-d. This form of
religious propaganda was serious enough in its original setting, when Christianity
remained a small reform movement within Judaism. There are many examples of
intra-religious friction throughout literature of that era; indeed, it is prevalent today.
But when the Christian religion became the official religion of Rome in the late 4th
century CE, Christianity became sufficiently powerful to actively oppress
and persecute Jews. This led to numerous exterminations of groups of Jews during the
Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Renaissance and into the modern era. Ancient Christian teachings
and practices paved the way for the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.

Today, only a few fringe Christian groups still teach that Jews are responsible for
Christ's death. However, many Christian denominations teach that the promises that G-d made to the
Jewish people have been withdrawn and transferred to the Christian Church. This teaching
has led to conflicts over attempts to evangelize Jews. Although
anti-Semitism has been abandoned by most faith groups in North America, the relationship between
Christians and Jews has much room for improvement.

Some Jewish websites:

Ask Moses is an information source on Judaism. Questions not answered on their site can be directed to an
online scholar. See: http://www.askmoses.com/

Becoming Jewish is an "online information source for those
considering conversion to Judaism, in the process of converting, Righteous
Gentiles (B'nei Noach), and anyone interested in learning about Judaism."
See: http://www.becomingjewish.org/